The comic cafâe

Wilf and his family have moved to the seaside to start a new life by opening a run-down cafe.

But for his parents it's all too much, and quite separately they decide to take a break from the family, not realising that the other has also left.

So Wilf and his four younger sisters fend for themselves and decide to renovate the cafe as a surprise for their parents' return.

But ghostly sounds in the house, a parade of oddball and inquisitive visitors and the mysterious links between the cafe's previous owner and the local art gallery complicate their efforts.

As Wilf's superhero comic characters take shape on the cafe's walls, covering the fat ladies who previously decorated it, the children's attempts to hide their parentless state slowly unravel, leading to a dramatic turn of events on the day they open the cafe to the public.

Packed with humorous characters and witty dialogue, this is a delightfully funny story with an intriguing mystery at its heart.

By a well-known children's poet with huge experience of reading and writing with children, The Comic Cafe is an exciting and highly entertaining fiction debut that ranks alongside stories by Hilary McKay, Lemony Snickett and Anne Fine.